Sunday, January 27, 2008

After the trauma of shopping for TV's DH and I requiredsome relaxing time, and so we went to the big Chapter'sbookstore in Brampton. I had gift cards from Christmasto spend, and was craving a visit to a bricks and mortarstore, instead of the on line shopping that I usually do. I'mglad that we went because I found a few books that I wouldhave likely missed on line. I've read the first two sets of trilogies that Robin Hobb haswritten in this series, but the third set I didn't have yet inmy library. I do now. I might just read all three books in arow, if the mood hits me. These are fantasy, by the way.

The book on the Blitz was on sale. Sarah Ash is another fantasyauthor who's Tears of Artamon trilogy was excellent. Tracing theShadow is her latest book, which I didn't even know was out. Peony in Love is a book that I've had my eye on for awhile. I'venoted that other bloggers have read it and enjoyed it, so I grabbedit yesterday when I had the chance. We've all heard about themovie Atonement that's out right now. Well, I'd heard that thebook is an excellent read, and the story's ending an unexpectedtwist, so I've been wanting to read it.

Now, I've never read anything by Julia Fox before, but I was sointrigued by this book of hers. I've read a lot about the Tudor era,and especially about Henry and is multiple wives. So I've metJane Boleyn, (SIL to Anne and Mary, wife to George) many times. In every book she is the outsider. The one who betrays her husbandand SIL's when Henry is looking for an excuse to rid himself of hissecond wife. She is portrayed as jealous, petty and prim. Anopportunist.

Now this book was written with much research(or so claims the cover) into documentation and letters about thereal Jane Boleyn and promises to reveal her in a truthful tellingof what really occurred back then. Not the nasty, jealous andbetraying woman...the villain that we've always been told about.I'm really looking forward to reading this one.

And this weeks read was Jan Karon's latest book Home toHolly Springs. A Father Tim novel which does not take placein the familiar environs of Mitford, as in past books. This onetakes Father Tim back to his own home town of Holly Springs.A place that he has not visited since the death of his mother38 years earlier.

Father Tim is retired, and at the age of 70 has settled intoa contented life with his beloved wife Cynthia, dog Barnabasand adopted son Dooley. Then he receives a cryptic note inthe mail, with only two words written on it. "Come Home".

Home. Father Tim's memories of his life in Holly Springsare conflicted and tinged in sadness. His mother and herfamily were loving, devout and close. His father was cold,aloof, at times cruel and estranged from his grandfather.Peggy, their housekeeper, was a second mother to theyoung Tim and greatly beloved by him. But she disappearedsuddenly one day when he was in grade 5 and he'd neverbeen able to find her.

In the previous Mitford books there were hints aboutFather Tim's past and his relationship with his parents.Now we find out the full story of his early years, andthe reasons for his estrangement from his own father.

Compelled to answer the call of the mysterious note,and to face the past that has haunted him, FatherTim returns to Holly Springs, seeking long lostfriends, answers to mysteries unresolved, an end tothe conflicted feelings of love and betrayal connectedto his father, and finally to find peace with his past.

The Mitford books are about people and their faith.But they are not cloying, or preachy. They arewarm and amusing, and full of colourful characters.You feel a sense of welcome, and comfort whenreading these books. Like coming home. You don'thave to be a deeply religious person to enjoy thesebooks. You just have to appreciate the importanceof love, family and community.

Blogger is being a royal pain in the you-know-where this morning. Not allowing me to publishmy post and now not letting me upload pictures. So I'll answer Jaimie's meme and then we'll seehow we go from there.

Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews?

I've always had a mental block when it comes to reading books thatwere published before the 20th century. I guess that I'm afraid thatI won't be able to relate to them, or get into the flow of the words orthe phraseology. I've got all of Jane Austin's books, but I've yet toactually pick one up and attempt to read it.

If you could bring three characters to life for a social event (afternoon tea, a night of clubbing, perhaps a world cruise), who would they be and what would the event be?

Who would I bring to life from all of the books I've read?? Oh,where to start??? Jamie and Claire from Diana Gabaldon'sbooks to start. Henry from The Time Traveler's Wife would beanother. Henry would be for the clubbing, while Jamie andClaire would be for tea. As for going on a cruise....how aboutSherlock Holmes?? He'd know everything that there is toknow about any place we went, and probably the languagetoo. I'm not sure what kind of sociable companion he'd bebut perhaps I could bring Henry along for that too.

(Borrowing shamelessly from the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde): you are told you can’t die until you read the most boring novel on the planet. While this immortality is great for awhile, eventually you realise it’s past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave?

The most boring book on the planet? A school text book. Any one.

Come on, we’ve all been there. Which book have you pretended, or at least hinted, that you've read, when in fact you’ve been nowhere near it?I don't know. The Bible I suppose. Haven't really ever stuck with that.I've never been able to read the Bronte's stuff. Just know the stories frommovies and tv.

You’re interviewing for the post of Official Book Advisor to some VIP (who’s not a big reader). What’s the first book you’d recommend and why? (If you feel like you’d have to know the person, go ahead and personalise the VIP)

I'd suggest a biography like David Niven's "The Moon is a Balloon".It is hilariously funny, tells stories about Hollywood movie starsthat most every one's heard of, and tells a bit about Niven's timeserving in the second world war which would provide a bit of historicalinterest. Oh, and Niven had Garbo swim naked in his pool, whichwould intrigue any red blooded male VIP.

A good fairy comes and grants you one wish: you will have perfect reading comprehension in the foreign language of your choice. Which language do you go with?

I think I'd like to be able to read (and speak) either French orGaelic. But this is a hard one to chose. French so I could readVictor Hugo or Alexandre Dumas or Collette. Hmmm all writersfrom before the 20th century. Still....A mischievous fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread once a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick?

Oh boy. I've read Marie Killilea's books Karen and With Love From Karen so often they'd qualify for sure. Also The Time Traveler's Wife. I've also readA Tree Grows in Brooklyn many times. The Lord of the Rings would beanother choice even if there are three of them.

I know that the book blogging community, and its various challenges, have pushed my reading borders. What’s one bookish thing you ‘discovered’ from book blogging (maybe a new genre, or author, or new appreciation for cover art-anything)?

I'm reading more general fiction, and have strayed away from Fantasyquite a bit in the last few years, although I still read Fantasy. I take noteof books recommended by blog friends such as Barbara's recommending ofThe Stolen Child, which I would probably have never heard of if she hadn'tmentioned it. Kerry is also a great help with selecting books thanks to herreviews and her voracious reading appetite.

That good fairy is back for one final visit. Now, she’s granting you your dream library! Describe it. Is everything leatherbound? Is it full of first edition hardcovers? Pristine trade paperbacks? Perhaps a few favourite authors have inscribed their works? Go ahead-let your imagination run free.

Oh boy!!! I'd have a ball with this one. A fireplace!! Definitely. Lot's ofshelves all around the room, probably in a dark wood. Hardwood floorswith a lovely, colourful rug in front of the fireplace. Several tall windowswith window seats. A big round table in the centre of the room. Comfywing backed arm chairs. Books in hardcover...even the ones that havenever been published in hardcover. Each and every one signed by theauthor. No dust jackets on the books.

I'll just tag anyone who reads this post and loves books. Youknow who you are.

I've got lot's of picture stuff today so I'm going to do a postabout my stitching and then another post after it about books.Jaimie tagged me for a book quiz and so answering that mighttake up a bit of space. My postings are not known for theirbrevity. My latest project is from the book Sweet and SimpleCountry Cross Stitch by Lori Gardner. Very colourfulwith lots of quarter stitches and back stitching. But itis a change from the projects that I've been doing andI've had my eye on this design for some time now. Itwill be just a section of the overall design that's in thebook, plus I'm taking an image from another part ofthe design and adding it onto the end of this section.

As mentioned last week I'm still finding the colouredsquares for each thread change a bit hard to tell apartwhich can be most frustrating, but I'm managing andso far I think I've made the right choices. There willbe a lot of colour used by the time this is done. I lovethe little blue bird.

This week I got two stash deliveries. One came fromStitching Bit's n Bobs and the other from MaryKathryn.Continuing to add to my collection of basic beige/brownor neutral fabrics are three packages of fabric's that runfrom light to dark.Then we have charts. A few LHN and CCN of course, andmost of the others are all new designers to me. StitchyKitty's Snowman Trio caught my eye as soon as it wasfeatured on the various stitching store sites and I love it.I still have to order the special buttons that go on it butI've ordered the threads and I think that this will be afun stitch.Actually, this is a bit of a winter/Christmas themed orderwith snowmen and Santa's and winter scenes. Oh well,Spring is two months away (insert groans and moans here)so what can you do but go with the flow.Many people have stitched the Tea Room and it's sucha pretty design, and since I'm a tea drinker it's quiteappropriate for me. The problem with all these newcharts is that I want to start all of them NOW!!!Fortunately by going to all your blogs, and seeing youstitching some of these designs it allows me to livevicariously and satisfies my need to start 10 projectsat once.

I've been enjoying (insert sarcastic tone here) a bit ofa cold for the past few days. Nothing major. It'smostly a stuffed nose and a bit of a raspy throat. Moreannoying then anything. And my nose is so sore now.I've been plastering it with creme to try and ease thesoreness but then I sneeze and....

DH and I went out looking at new TV's yesterday.Our currant TV is almost 20 years old and beginningto show signs of it's age. We figured it's time to investin a new one before the old one craps out for good.Unfortunately for us we're not much for technology,and in twenty years TVs have changed....a lot!!

We hear advice from friends, and listen to the spielfrom the salesmen at the stores and we feel ourheads start to spin, and our eyes glaze over. It goesright over our heads. As I told Monique on her bloga few weeks ago, it's like Fred Flintstone looking fora new vehicle in a George Jetson dealership.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

We have a finish. Here is Peony all stitched up. I've decidedto work on another project for awhile and so have put this pieceaside. However, while browsing through blogs the other day Icame across Coventry Cottage Home 's blog and Suzanne hasdone all six designs in this series on a single piece of fabric. Shefeatures the finish in her post of December 28th, and it looksfabulous. Something to inspire me when I'm ready to pick thisproject up again. By the way, I love the little butterflies in thePeony design. For some reason the green, pink and browncolours together put me in mind of mint or pistachio ice cream.

I spent much of Friday night kitting up a new project, andchasing Rupert who kept getting into my stitching cupboard,grabbing skeins of thread and running off like a mad cat, withme in hot pursuit. He did this three times, which proves thathe's a very determined, stubborn cat, and I'm an easilydistracted, over optimistic, short term memoried human.

I'm doing a cute project from a book of cross stitch designsby Lori Gardner. I'm taking parts of a larger design andmaking a long, single line piece. Bright colours, quarterstitches and back stitching. The problem with stitching froma book is hauling said book around while working on theproject. The thread grid and the chart are in colour, sophotocopying the page would not be an option I think. Also,I've found that thread guides using mostly coloured squaresis a pain. Especially when the guide is on one page, and thechart is on an overleaf page. Telling shades of red and orangeapart is difficult, to say the least. And referring to the pictureof the finished piece doesn't help because the thread colourslook really different in the picture compared to real life.Still, I soldier on. I'll post a picture of my progress when theproject looks like more then a few blobs of brightly colouredbits.

We're back to winter here in the Great White North. It's minusfourteen Celsius with a wind chill of double that. Whew!! Ithink we're suppose to get some snow too at some point today.Me? I plan on hibernating for the day. As far as I'm concernedwhen it comes to winter, bears have the right idea.

DH has filled the bird feeders, bought and put out cakes ofsuet and seed mix, filled the bird bath and made sure theheater is properly placed, and stocked up on seed for refillsduring the week. We have a flock of junco's overwinteringwith us, a family of red breasted nuthatches, and assortedgold finches, house finches, chickadees and mourning doves.And busily decimating the hard cherries on our three treesout front is a flock of pine grosbeaks, which are new to us.

Above is a male Pine Grosbeak. It looks a bit like aHouse Finch, but is twice the size. The females are aolive colour, and the juveniles are a rusty brown. Thesebirds are extremely tame and you can get right up closeto them, and they'll just drop cherry skins on your headand ignore you.

Usually it's migrating Cedar Waxwings that dine on theberries in the Spring but this past December, for the firsttime, almost a dozen pine grosbeaks appeared and beganattacking the hard skinned cherries with their very strongbeaks. The snow under the trees soon grew to resemblethe aftermath of a massacre, with the bits of smooshedcherries scattered around. The birds continue to appearso I guess they're here for the winter.

It's so exciting to see a bird for the first time at our feeders,and this past year we've had a few newcomers to our yard.The red breasted nuthatches for one, and the grosbeaks,and on one memorable day an indigo bunting!! Last yearit was a whole family of Baltimore Orioles who spent anafternoon in the area and kept appearing in our yard. DHand I were going nuts trying to keep track of them as theyappeared and then flew off. Such gorgeous birds.

And now for my book of the week. And boy do I recommendthis one to all of you. I loved this book!! The story is fascinating,the writing sharp, vivid and both emotional and amusing in turns.

Water for Elephants was written by a Canadian, Sara Gruen andthis is her third book. This is the first one of hers that I've readbut I plan on checking out the others now. This one came out in2006 and was a critically lauded success.

The year is 1931 and Jacob Jankowski is in the last week ofstudies before sitting for his final exams to become a veterinarian,like his father before him. But devastating news rocks Jacob'sworld when he learns that both his parents have been killed in anauto accident, and because of the recession their house, it'scontents and his father's practice have all been seized by the bank.The realization that his parent's re mortgaged their house to payfor his education, and his father has been accepting payment forhis services in the form of produce and barter due to thedepression, sends Jacob reeling and in the middle of trying towrite his exams he breaks down and flees the University.

Running without thought or destination Jacob ends up hoppinga train and finds it to be a circus train. Taken in by anelderly circus worker named Camel, Jacob finds himself indesperate need of a place to stay and work to feed himself ina depression weary country where jobs are few and far between.

Taken on as vet to the circus Jacob meets Marlene, star equestrianrider and wife of August, an animal trainer. Marlene is beautifuland enchanting, August is in turns charming and bombastic,suddenly changing to a dark, sullen and suspicious man witha cruel temper. Jacob falls for Marlene and as the week pass andAugust's actions reveal more and more of his dark nature Marleneis drawn to Jacob.

The circus world is revealed to the reader in fascinating detail.We meet the workers, who are strictly segregated from theperformers, and find a world both magical and brutal. Jacobfinds a refuge with the animals he tends and comes to care forthem with a dedication reminiscent of his father's to his domesticpractice.

As the circus owner Big Al herds his big top show from townto town, imperious and obsessed with building his circus intoa success to rival that of the Ringling Bros. and uncaring ofthe people and animals he uses to achieve that end, tensionsmount.

Jacob must find a way to save Marlene from her increasinglyunstable and eventually abusive husband, as well as theanimals in his care, on whom August vents his temper withoutmercy. But Big Al values his animal trainer August, andperformer Marlene, who is the big draw to his circus, and thekeys to his dreams of success, and he will sacrifice animals andhumans of lesser value to keep them in his circus.

I think we're all drawn to the world of the circus, especiallythe circus's of 30 to 60 years ago when the magic and laughterthat enchanted the audience often hid a dark and hollowworld of brutality, discrimination and desperation. This bookshows us that world, warts and all, but also allows us to seethe camaraderie of the circus people who work together tobring the big top alive, and support each other in a world whoviews them with suspicion and distrust.

I really loved Jacob and his determination not to abandonhis friends, the animals who depend on him, and the womanhe loves, in spite of his own grief, loss and his youth. Andyou'll loose your heart to the animals in the menagerie, whoare as brilliantly portrayed and brought to life, as the humancharacters are in this book.

Guess that's it for now. Time to go do some chores and earnmy keep. Hope that you all have a great week. Cheers!

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Hello everyone. I've been tagged by Lynn of Kearnal's Kornerand thought I'd post my answers to this list of questions now,before I have to go make dinner. Warning: the followingpost may put you to sleep if read while sitting down in acomfortable chair.

Four jobs that I've had:

Stock taker at Canadian TireCashier at Beaver LumberBank teller at Bank of MontrealMultiple positions at CIBC

Amendment: Very first job I had was year end stocktaking at a Canadian Tire. A friend who already workedthere got me the day long job. I was 15. We worked for 12 hoursstraight...counting everything from nails and screwsto lengths of piping and all manner of hardwarein between. Finally, filthy and exhausted we finished offand headed home.

Two hours later my friend phoned me at home andtold me the store was on fire!! It was gutted.All that work for nothing!!! My first job. I reallyset the place on fire.....ouch!! Sorry. Moving on....

Four movies that I watch over and over:

The Lord of the Rings trilogyTwisterJawsIndependence Day

Four places that I've been:

AlaskaEnglandBritish ColumbiaFlorida

Four places I have lived:

TorontoGeorgetownthat's it.....

Four tv shows that I watch:

I love and adore home improvementand decorating shows.MoonlightLostUmmmm.....Don't watch much tv now.

How about four shows that I'll always love butaren't on anymore:

Buffy the Vampire SlayerAngelStar Trek: The Next GenerationBewitched

Four people who email me regularly:

My SILDarleneBobbie at Stitching Bit's n Bobs (What can I say?I order from them a lot.....sheepish grin)Charmaine

Four favourite foods:

ChocolatePizzaChinese foodChicken

Four places I would rather be:

England or anywhere in Great BritainBritish ColumbiaThe East Coast - Newfoundland or Nova ScotiaEurope

Four things I look forward to:

The next Harry Potter movieThe new releases from NashvilleRetiring - preferably after winning the lottery....soon!Spring

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Good day everyone. Another week, another posting. Andanother progress report on my current WIP Cottage Garden.Crescent Colours really knows their shades of pink, don't they?Every time I get an order of thread from them which includesyet another shade/variation of pink I think it's the mostbeautiful shade of pink ever....until the next order comes in.And I'm amazed how variegation can turn ordinary brownthread into a rich and lustrous colour.

Lynn asked how big the piece of material is that I'mstitching all of these designs on together. This is a cut20 1/2 inches by 15 inches. It is plenty of material for thedesigns and a healthy boarder. I ordered this fromMaryKathryn's online store. She's offered this materialspecifically for this project since the designs were firstreleased and it comes surged around the edges, whichis a nice touch.

And speaking of Marykathryn's online store....I took advantageof her free shipping over the holidays to order some stuff. Thefirst delivery arrived this week and included the final design forCountry Garden. Check out these thread colours!!! Lousylighting does not allow the full punch of brilliant colour to showin my picture but take my word for it, in real life you need sunglasses to view these threads safely. And, oh look....anothershade of pink!!!!

And these two charts were also included in the package.I don't have many Country Cottage Needlework designsin my stash yet, but I'm trying to remedy that situation.The same goes for Blue Ribbon Designs. I like the layoutand the design of this piece, but I may change the coloursto something a bit more vivid. We'll see.

This weekend DH and I have been packing up all theChristmas decorations for another year. What a chore!!We spent nearly five hours yesterday afternoon justpacking all the decorations in boxes. Which firstrequired hauling said boxes from the basement, andcollecting all the decorations from around the house.This is when I tend to regret buying a four level house.Up and down the three sets of stairs, multiple times,during the course of the day. And although I onlybought one large decoration this year (see December9th post for picture) and it has it's own box forstorage, finding boxes for everything turned out tobe a bit of a struggle.

Then we had to watch out for Rupert, who had toget into every box before it was packed, and sometimesafterwards too. We kept finding him asleep inside abox that we were preparing to pack. Or just sittingin a box, watching us work and looking very pleasedwith himself. We were afraid he'd get shut into abox and packed away for the year. Especially towardsthe end of the day when we were both too tired topay sufficient enough attention to what we were doing.After we'd called it a day we put on our coats andheaded to the pub for dinner. We deserved a treatafter all our hard work, and I wasn't inclined to startcooking a meal anyways. Today, we clean and putthe all season decorations and stuff back in place.

Another of my Mom's needlepoint pieces. This is one ofa pair, and is another favourite of mine. I love the finedetail in the design, and the realistic expression thatshows on the old man's face. Thank you all for thelovely comments on the first piece that I featured. Yes Carla, these needlepoint designs are a good sizeand much bigger then most of our cross stitch pieces.

This week's read was a recommendation from Barbaraof Mainly Stitching. Thank you Barbara. I really enjoyedthis one.

Seven year old Henry Day runs away from home and intothe woods. He hides in a hallow at the base of an oldtree, away from the searchers out looking for him. ButHenry is being watched, and has been for some timebefore he decides to run away. A band of changelingshas targeted Henry to be replaced by one of their own.They spring upon him in his hiding place and bind himup and carry him away, while the leader of their bandstays behind. He alters his appearance to match Henry'sexactly and when the searchers find him he goes hometo Henry's family and takes his place.

Thus Henry becomes a changeling, a hobgoblin, aneternal wild child, with fading memory of his formerlife, but a constant yearning for what he has lost. Heis renamed Aniday by his captors turned companionsand as the years pass must learn to survive in thewoods while avoiding human detection. Which becomesincreasingly difficult as the modern world encroacheson the fairies territory.

Meanwhile, the changeling who has taken Henry'splace in the Day family, must learn to fit in and passfor the boy, for detection could spell disaster. Butthe new Henry is plagued with guilt. And scatteredmemories of his own life of a 100 years earlier,when he too was a boy, named Gustav, stolen fromhis family. As Henry grows up, loosing his changelingabilities and becoming more and more human, Gustav'smusical talent's emerge, causing suspicion andunease in one parent who finds it hard to acceptthe boy returned from the woods as his own.

The story portrays the magical world of thechangelings as less the idyll of pixie dust andmagical courts under mounds of earth, thenof scrabbling to find sufficient food, shelterand safety while battling hunger and cold,and the elements, and the dangers of the wild.For while the changelings never physicallygrow old, they can still be killed as easily asany human child.

The story builds in suspense, desperation,despair and paranoia as time passes, andHenry/Gustav seeks to find out about hisreal past, and worries about his own youngson. And Aniday tries to hold on to memoriesof his family and former life while the otherhobgoblins are increasingly desperate to findanother child to switch with.

For me part of the charm of reading this bookwas that it was based in part on a poem by W.B. Yeats. This poem was set to music byLoreenaMckennitt for one of her earliest CD's,and so while reading the book the music andthe words of the poem kept running through myhead. I was on the edge of my seat by the endof this book, anxious to know how it all wouldwork out. A very well written, well thought outand well told story.

The weather has been quite warm this week aswe enjoy our annual January thaw. Temperaturesas high as 13 degrees Celsius meant that all thelovely snow we received in December and onNew Years day is all but gone. Strong winds havebeen the main concern this week, causing poweroutages and damaging trees and roofs. Theregular, colder temperatures should be slowlyreturning this coming week.

So cuddle up with someone you love, and keep warmand cozy. Have a great week every one.

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Hello everyone. The first week of the New Year has passed andthe holiday season is now something of a fading memory. We stillhave our tree up and our decorations out, but next weekend we'llbe packing those back up for another year. Which makes me feela wee bit sad because I do so love my tree, but will admit that itdoesn't have quite the appeal in July that it does in December.So I'll enjoy it while I can.

I started a new project last week, since it's the New Year andI was ready for something fresh. So I started the firstCountry Cottage Needleworks design in the CottageGarden set. I'll be stitching all six of these designs on one pieceof Natural Pearl Linen in 28 count. I'm enjoying this one verymuch and look forward to seeing each design come to life.Pretty designs and gorgeous thread colours.My Mom use to do needlepoint, back about twenty or thirtyyears ago. Due to arthritis in her back she can no longermanage to do this and/or cross stitch any longer and so isconcentrating on knitting projects. She has her needlepointprojects framed and hanging in her room at the residenceand I thought I'd take some pictures to show them off.This one hangs above her bed, and is my personal favourite.I love the colours in this one, and it's such a pretty scene.I think this is her favourite too. And I think that it wasthe last one that she stitched as well.

This is a seasonal hobby of mine. I make bows for some ofmy Christmas presents. I got into this after being inspiredby my friend Tony who made a bow for me one year to puton the gift that his partner (and my friend) Darlene wasgiving me. It was an incredibly beautiful bow, and I wasastounded that he'd made it just for me. After that year Iinsisted that Tony make me a bow every year to go onmy present, and I always look forward to seeing each newbow for the first time. I have about 7 of them now, andput them out as decorations around the house during theholidays. I will never part with them.

I wanted to try my hand at bow making as well, since itlooked like a lot of fun. I can't say that I'm quite in Tony'sleague, but I've been doing this for about four years nowand I enjoy it. There are so many beautiful ribbonsavailable, and trims to put on them, so it's pretty easy tocome up with designs that look good. Sadly, with a catlike Rupert around the house I can't leave the decoratedparcels under the tree because he'd eat them, or tearthem apart, but that doesn't stop me from continuing tomake them.

The past week was a bitterly cold one around here.The sort of weather that had us putting on layers andlayers and layers of clothing to venture outdoors in.And still the cold seeped through materials and turnedlegs into frosticles. And then the weekend arrived, andthe temperature has been rising. Today is a balmy5 degrees Celsius and there is a heavy fog coveringeverything, as the snow that we got last week melts.It's going to get even warmer over the next couple ofdays, and we may even see some rain. I guess it's aJanuary thaw. It won't last of course. January andFebruary are the cold months around here.My current read. I picked this up after reading aboutit on Michelle's blog a month or so ago. She was readingit for her book club and talked about it on one of herblog postings. It sounded so good, and the story wasright up my alley, so I got it, and began it just beforeChristmas. I'll probably finish it tomorrow on my wayhome from work.

Margaret Giggs is a ward of Thomas More, and haslived as a daughter in his family since the death of herown parents when she was a young child. Moore hasseen to it that all his daughters are as well educated asany son of that time period, which was a rare andalmost unheard of practice for that era. Margaret(Meg) thrives in this rarefied atmosphere, developingan interest and talent for the healing arts.

It is the years when More has become a courtier in thecourt of Henry VIII, and has found himself caughtbetween the heartfelt beliefs of his religion and theimplacable demands of his monarch to find a way todissolve the marriage of Henry to Catherine ofAragon and pave the way for Anne Boleyn to becomeQueen of England.

Two visitors to More's home are drawn to Megduring this politically charged and dangerous time.One is the mysterious tutor John Clement, and theother is the painter Hans Holbein, who has beencommissioned by More to paint the entire Morefamily. Meg falls in love with the handsome,enigmatic Clement, and yet is also drawn to thebluff, enormously talented and intelligent Holbein.

Meg makes her choice, marries and settles intoher new life. But the years pass and secrets arerevealed. Meg fears for More as his position andhis beliefs are conflicted and the consequences ofdispleasing and disappointing a demanding monarchare inescapable and too often fatal.

What I loved about this story, the author going intodetail about the creation of some of Holbein's mostfamous works, explaining the symbols painted intothem and their meaning. I loved seeing the life ofMore and his family explored and seeing thecolourful, but fear ridden Tudor era brought to life.

I had a some trouble accepting the story of JohnClement's life, which I won't go into here becauseI don't want to spoil the surprise/story line. Irealized where the author was going with hisidentity and was shaking my head and thinkingthat I just didn't buy it. However that's just myown reaction, based on what I've read over theyears and come to believe of the history of thePlantagenet and Tudor dynasties.

This book is well written, and well researchedand if you've read anything by Philippa Gregorywhich deals with this era in British history thenyou'll want to read this book and will probablyenjoy it too.Well, it's getting on and I've got to go see about some dinner. I'llleave you with a picture of Rupert who insisted on helping me towrap presents during the holiday season. What a guy.

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Okay, after several attempts I've finally gotten Blogger to acceptsome pictures....and we're off to the races!!!

Hello! Happy New Year to one and all!! Hope that everyonehas had a wonderful Christmas and New Year holiday. Don'tknow where the time has gone. As always the season hasjust flown by.

Of course the fact that we spent the majorityof the time wrapped in pj's and blankets, plastered withVick's and dosed with assorted cold remedies meant thatthe days passed in a medicated haze. We appreciate allthe wonderful good wishes that you all sent our way andI like to think that they helped as much as the drugs tochase the nasty germs away at last.

Some stitching did get done during the week, although I really hadto watch what I was doing at times, and a wee bit of frogging wasnecessary before the job was done. This is such a pretty pattern.I do so love the bees. From A Gift of Stitching on line magazine, acollaboration of LHN and CCN, which can only result in magic.

A bit of stash enhancement, with more to come. Thanks to Sandraat Sampler Lover's Blog I remembered what a beauty the Tokenwas and ordered it. It'll be a lovely partner for A Spot of Tea 1someday. These Quaker designs are so much fun to stitchbecause it's so exciting to see each small motif develop.

I'll be stitching the Cottage Garden designs by CCN as one piece,having ordered the material to stitch them on from MaryKathrynat Handcrafts Online. I've just ordered the last design from her.The colours that each of these little designs uses are gorgeous!!

A lovely card, and some gorgeous thread from Dani made asick day a bit more bearable. So I dubbed this picture "Treasuresfrom Dani" and included the needle book that shestitched for me in the summer. This thread colour is so rich andI love looking at the variegation, one shade into another. Thankyou Dani!!!

We celebrated Christmas on December 30th, with my Momand SIL here. We retrieved the roast beef that had beenput into the freezer for safe keeping during the plague andthawed it out and cooked it, with yorkshire pudding, mashedpotato's, turnip casserole (which DH hates, but the rest of uslove) and corn. Dessert was pumpkin pie made by SIL. Itwas the first full meal that DH and I had eaten in over a weekand it was so good!! Mind you, we were both so stuffed afterwards, but it was worth it!!

And another winter storm came in early this morning and dumpeda pile of snow for the New Year. DH and I went out and shoveledthe stuff and dug out the car, although we have no plans to goanywhere today. This is the heavy stuff, which required a bit ofwork to clear, but it clung to the branches of the trees, as well asjust about everything else, and it looked so pretty. It wasn't toocold out either, but that is suppose to change this afternoon, witha sharp drop in temperature and strong winds.

And as has been something of a trend this winter, after a pile of snowand cold temperatures, by the end of the week it's suppose to getmuch warmer (double digit temperatures apparently) and a goodportion of this white stuff will disappear. We actually had someheavy rain one night last week. It's been a wild winter so far.

Now I must go and visit blogs and catch up on what all of youhave been doing during the holidays. Once again, many thanksfor your visits, and your good wishes during this past week. Ienjoy hearing from you all so much. Cheers!!